Acts of Faith
by nyx 327
Summary: Even if the onlookers didn't understand why Hitsugaya almost sliced her arm in half, Matsumoto did.


Acts of Faith

Summary: Hitsugaya, Matsumoto Even though the rest of the onlookers don't understand why Hitsugaya had nearly sliced Matsumoto's arm in half, she does.

Disclaimer: Characters don't belong to me, I'm merely borrowing them.

Warnings: Just some swearing.

He leaps, slashing and swirling as he falls on her. She blocks, eyes narrowed in concentration as she attempts to read him, to anticipate the next attack. He roars, comes crashing down as she jumps away to lash at him from the side.

It's his next attack that she falters, and ends up with his zanpakuto slicing her arm in half. Instantly, he stops himself, yanking back his sword out of her body, flicking his zanpakuto in an arc to clean it, and sheathes it in a blink of a second. He grabs her, holding her in his arms and she faints from the rapid blood loss, and his shunpo takes them towards the Fourth Division.

He hears scraps of "what the hell" and "shit, look at all that blood on Matsumoto" but he's intent on his destination, and doesn't care that other shinigami are wondering why his fukutaicho is dying in his arms when there was no mission to the living world, no Hollow attacks that day. Ikkaku's chasing after him, and someone else is screaming at him, but Hitsugaya doesn't look back and Ikkaku can't keep up.

Hitsugaya gets to the Fourth Division building, screaming for Unohana, screaming for a room for his fukutaicho. The stern taicho is visibly upset and shaken, and now there is a crowd of onlookers at the doorway, staring at the blond woman's still bleeding body. Unohana shoves away some of the crowd, to begin healing Matsumoto. Hitsugaya is pale, even paler than normal, and several others notice his hand is on Hyourinmaru's hilt. Some idiot asks his friend if the Tenth Division taicho has tried to kill his subordinate, but is quickly hushed and smacked. Hitsugaya has not looked over, nor does he appear to even noticed the crowd. Hinamori is the only one who dares approach him, laying a gentle hand on his arm, and murmuring quietly to him. He looks over at her touch, but says nothing to her and turns his attention back to the blond woman lying on the bed. Hinamori is asking what happened, but Hitsugaya is silent. Everyone wants to know. No one else is brave enough to ask.

Unohana leans back from the bedside, sighing, as she looks over at Hitsugaya. "She should be fine" her voice echoes, and she smiles. She tries to console the young taicho, but he isn't looking at her. He's staring at Matsumoto, waiting intently for his fukutaicho to open her eyes, twitch her hand, to do something. He's waiting, and he's waiting, but nothing is happening.

Unohana gets up, brushes Hitsugaya on the shoulder, and repeats, "She'll be fine. She just needs to rest and regain her strength." Hitsugaya blinks, then shoves his way past the healer, apparently uncaring that he's being rude, while Hinamori gasps and apologizes to the Fourth Division leader. Hitsugaya leans over, as Matsumoto opens her eyes. She locks eyes with Hitsugaya, and for a moment, time stands still.

He says nothing, merely waits for her condemnation, her accusation. She smiles, and the onlookers gasp. "Next time," she says, 'Next time I'll be quicker.'

He suddenly relaxes, and grasps her hand. "You should have been." The tone is brusque and annoyed. "Baka." Someone is growling, hissing that Hitsugaya-taicho doesn't care about wounding his fukutaicho. "You will be. Tomorrow."

Unohana is protesting, Matsumoto shouldn't get out of bed, she still needs rest, but Matsumoto holds onto Hitsugaya's hand, and tugs at his sleeve. Hitsugaya blinks, but reaches behind his cloak, and sets Haineko next to her on the bed.

Kuchiki-taicho is cold, as he reprimands Hitsugaya for not having enough skills to avoid slaughtering his own command. He leaves, sniffing distastefully, telling Hitsugaya that if he is too young to avoid spitting his fukutaicho, he should get someone less breakable as a subordinate. Hitsugaya merely stares at the other captain until Kuchiki-taicho finally leaves.

The Tenth Division taicho gets up to leave, brushing past the other onlookers without a word. Everyone edges into the room, and starts babbling to Matsumoto. "Was he trying to kill you," "teach you a lesson," and "was he mad about paperwork" fill the air. Matsumoto, holding Haineko, closes her eyes. And laughs.

She welcomes the well wishers, talks with her friends, and catches up on the day as everyone unwinds. She sits up in bed, drinks some water, jokes that sake would be better, winces as Unohana firmly rejects the idea, and stays in the bed until the sun has set.

She struggles to a sitting position, and smiles again as Hitsugaya walks back into the room, holding a stack of papers. "Since you can't run away, and you're on bed rest." He hands them over to her, and walks back out. Matsumoto glares at her taicho, but Ikkaku laughs, and gets up to leave. The rest of her friends are all starting to wander out of the room since Matsumoto's not dying, although they all agree as they walk out, that her taicho is the coldest bastard that ever walked the halls of Seireitei, and shit, Matsumoto should either kill him or transfer divisions. Gin would take her in a heartbeat, and no one should have to put up with Hitsugaya-taicho's shit.

Matsumoto watches them all leave, tilting her head and smiling softly. She dangles her feet over the bed edge. She's waiting.

Hitsugaya walks back in, and he glances around to make sure they've all left before sitting besides her in the bed. He hands her a cup of tea, and takes the stack of papers she hands him. She places her injured hand on his, and wait until he looks at her. His eyes are clear, unapologetic.

"I'm sorry," she murmurs.

He sighs, "I'm just sorry you got hurt." He tells her honestly. "Can you move your arm?"

She nods, and he sighs again. "If you want, we can wait."

She shakes her head in determination. "No. Tomorrow." Her hands fist. He watches her hands critically.

"It's up to you," he acquiesces.

"They think you did it because I skimped on all the paperwork last week," she informs him, her grin curving the corner of her mouth.

He raises his eyebrow, then glares at her. "And you didn't deny it, did you."

She laughs, and since it's only the two of them, leans her head on his. He doesn't flinch, merely bears her weight, and squeezes her hand. She cuddles for a moment, enjoying the feel of his spiky hair against her cheek. "Tomorrow."

He grunts, then his mouth quirks. "This should be good for discipline in the division then. And good for my reputation as a hard taskmaster." He reaches up to stroke her hair, and tell her to "get some rest then."

As he gets up, she clings to his hand so that he turns back to face her. "They wouldn't understand," she says.

He rolls his eyes. It doesn't matter.

She places a kiss in his hand, and the smile that is reserved for her emerges briefly before he turns to leave, and she lays back down. Her hand stokes Haineko. And she smiles, wryly, as the only reason that she had got injured was due to lack of faith. He didn't stop his attack because he had faith in her abilities to block him. She is strong, and she has trained for so many years to be as skilled as she is, but no one else has had this much faith in her. No one else thinks of her as highly as he does, and no one else pushes her to excel and succeed as much as he does.

She hopes, that one day, she will have as much faith in herself as he does.

She hopes he knows that she will be strong enough to guard his back. She hope that he will keep his faith that she will protect him.

Unohana comes back to check on her. Matsumoto's not sure if Unohana understands, but she hasn't asked stupid questions yet, and she hasn't barricaded Hitsugaya from Matsumoto's room. Unohana leaves, and Matsumoto is left alone. With Haineko. Who is asking her a simple question: The one person who has never underestimated her believes in her - how can she doubt him?

Matsumoto has never questioned the fact that Haineko has always been wiser than she is. She has no answer for her zanpakuto.

Decades later, when this incident is merely a faint memory, and new recruits are exclaiming over how coordinated she is with her taicho, Matsumoto laughs to herself. She looks over at her taicho, who rolls his eyes, and very faintly smiles. Matsumoto is content. While Hitsugaya never lets his guard down while fighting Hollows, he also rarely watches his back. He doesn't need to, as Matsumoto is always there, watching for him.


End file.
